Modest Roach plays down role in Pacquaio transformation (Reuters)
By Mark Lamport-Stokes LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Freddie Roach is the quintessential trainer, an Irish-American who lives and breathes boxing and is happiest when he has the mitts on while putting his fighters through their paces in his Wild Card Boxing Club. Voted trainer of the year by the Boxing Writers Association of America on seven occasions, Roach is best known for the success he has achieved in partnership with Manny Pacquiao, a Filipino southpaw he has transformed into a complete fighter. When Pacquiao first worked with Roach in 2001, he was a one-handed fighter with lightning-fast hand and foot speed who had very little defensive technique to balance his naturally aggressive style in the ring.